"A rich book, filled with detail and incident, yet never losing a sense of the overall sweep of events."—Times Literary Supplement

"In a balanced and seamless presentation, the origins and first decade of the Hundred Years' War unfold before the reader."—American Historical Review

"Without any doubt, this book immediately takes its place as the best available account of this phase of the war. . . . It is compulsively readable, in part the consequence of a lucid style and apt choice of detail, but mainly the result of a masterly overall grasp, acute judgment, fresh insight, and a compelling sense of immediacy that fully justifies the author's preference for a predominantly narrative approach. Throughout, there is a sense of a luminous intelligence working on the material."—History

"This will become a standard account of the War."—Choice

A History Book Club selection

A former History Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, Jonathan Sumption is the author of Pilgrimage and The Albigensian Crusade.